Temporal
by Aeondragon
Summary: Summary: After being abandoned by his friends on the Horcrux hunt, Harry dives into his studies, training so that he can defeat his enemies on his own. He uncovers a new weapon, one that allows him to go above and beyond those around him. No pairings.


**Temporal**

**This is the first oneshot I've ever written, and I wrote it a bit differently than I normally do. For one thing, it's in first-person. This story takes place during the seventh book, though it diverges slightly a bit before I started it.**

**The title of this story is referring to an idea I had that really spawned this story. You'll find out what that was later.**

**Harry is more than a bit OOC in this story, but it fits. He is alone, so he developed a bit differently.**

**Originally, I'd planned to keep this story for a bit and work on it a bit longer, but since it's the Leap Day, I decided to let it out a bit early. I have the second chapter of Sorcerer of Silver Light almost ready and will be releasing it later today. This chapter is being released at 2:29:12 on 2/29/12. **

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><p>"Go on, Ron! Get out of here" I roared. The bastard had spent the past ten minutes complaining about me, and had even had the audacity to bring up my parents. "Go back to them, pretend you've got over your spattergroit and Mummy'll be able to feed you up and—" I took a deep breath. "I didn't ask either of you to come with me, and I won't ask you to stay. There's no room for traitors here."<p>

Ron made a sudden movement, and I reacted. There was no way I was going to let Ron curse me. But before either of us could bring our wands to bear, Hermione had raised her own.

"Protego!" she cried, and an invisible shield expanded between me and the two of them. Ron and I glared from either side of the transparent barrier as though we were seeing each other clearly for the first time. Maybe I was seeing his true colors for the first time. I knew that there was no going back. I was done with him.

"Leave the Horcrux and get out of my sight." I spat at my former friend.

Ron wrenched the chain from over his head and cast the locket onto the ground. He turned to Hermione.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, seeming to be shocked by the turn of events.

"Are you staying or what?"

"I ..." She looked anguished for a moment, before her face seemed to harden. "No, Harry. I'm sorry, but Ron's right. We can't do this. We should go and find somewhere safe. We need to make a plan and-"

"I get it." I said softly, cutting her off. "Go on. Go and make your plans. It's like I told Ron. I didn't ask either of you to come, and I won't ask you to stay with me. Clearly, it was a mistake to rely on anyone. I'll defeat Tom on my own."

I turned and stalked back into the tent, when I heard a pair of cracks. They were both gone. I closed my eyes briefly, before beginning to gather my things. It wouldn't do for Weasley to decide that he might as well give me up for the reward.

To my surprise, Hermione's beaded bag was still in the tent. I picked it up and was about to throw it out of the tent, when I froze. Opening it up, I glanced at the contents. Dozens, if not hundreds of books were inside. A small smile appeared on my face. It looks like I'd have plenty to read.

Hermione had been right about one thing, and one thing only. I wasn't ready, especially if I was going to be alone. It looks like it was time to hit the books.

* * *

><p><em><strong>One Year Later<strong>_

I glanced mournfully at the almost empty hourglass. There were maybe a dozen grains left in the time turner. With practiced ease, I put it into the mokeskin pouch around my neck. Maybe I'd find a use for it. After all, it was the last time turner in Magical Britain. I'd stolen it at the same time as we'd managed to get the locket, though I hadn't informed Ron and Hermione, for some reason. That little voice in the back of my head had spoken up, reminding me that it might be useful to have a secret weapon.

I waved my wand in front of my eyes, before glancing around. The simple magesight spell allowed me to analyze the status of my wards. Yeah, the Fidelius was nearly gone, and I knew it would take the rest of the wards with it. I looked down at the locket. I decided that it's finally time to deal with it.

The Fidelius was an extremely interesting charm. Thankfully, it seems that Hermione had lied about summoning just the Horcrux books. I found a number of books I remembered from Dumbledore's private library inside her little bag. One of them was a complete history of the Fidelius Charm.

The book had told me why my parents hadn't bothered just naming one of themselves as their Secret-Keeper. Apparently, the charm erodes in the presence of the Secret-Keeper, which explains why Dumbledore spent so little time at Grimmauld Place. In addition, all other wards on the area will erode as well. It couldn't even be recast on the same location for a while after one expired.

With a wave of my wand, my tent packed itself into my backpack. It was just a standard muggle one that I'd bought from a department store, then enchanted. I'd gotten rather good at weaving them, in the three years of training I'd had.

I carried the locket out to the edges of my wards. I wasn't sure if Tom could tell if one of his Horcruxes was destroyed, so I'd decided to wait until I was done training to dispose of it. Well, I think I can dispose of it anyway. If my first plan fails, I have a backup plan on my wrist. A goblin-forged knife, dipped in basilisk venom and enchanted by my own hands. It even had my own bastardized version of a Fidelius Enchantment on it. The only way to find the knife was to be stabbed by it.

I took a deep breath, before speaking a word. It was rather ironic that, in fact, you didn't actually need to speak Parseltongue to open something that's enchanted to need it. All you needed was the phonetic pronunciation. The magical component was unnecessary. I didn't bother speaking it. No need to bother my conjured guardians. I murmured the word for 'open', without using the magical language, and the locket opened. I kept my eyes closed, not wanting to find out what enchantments the bastard had put into the stupid thing. My fingertip pressed against the face of the locket and I wanted to whimper at the organic texture. Was that an eyeball? Did he enchant a basilisk eye into it, maybe? I don't know and don't really want to.

I focused my Apparition field. I had always been a natural at the magical form of transportation, but my current skill with it would scare anyone. Hell, sometimes I'm frightened by what I can do. It wasn't anything too complicated this time, though. I extended my field about a centimeter from my fingertip, encompassing a small portion of the middle of the locket, before apparating just a few feet away.

I heard a scream from the direction of the locket and opened my eyes to see black smoke fading from the ruined remains of the dark artifact. I had been right. Even with Tom's enchantments, it hadn't been able to survive being splinched. It didn't have the connection to its parts that wizards did.

A small smile appeared on my face. That's three down, three to go.

* * *

><p>I apparated just outside the Leaky Cauldron, concealed by my invisibility cloak and a disillusionment charm. Even if the cloak slipped off, I wouldn't be found. Thankfully, I was skilled at Apparition to the point that I didn't even make a sound, so no one noticed. I slipped into the pub, stealing one of the Daily Prophets on a table. I needed to find out what was going on.<p>

To my surprise, it seems that all opposition had been snuffed out in the past six months. What little remained of the Order of the Phoenix was in hiding, and the Ministry of Magic had gained an immense amount of power. It seems that they were finally about to start rounding up Muggleborns, having acquired enough power that there was no one left on the Wizengamot who would oppose them.

I may not like my fame, but I had to admit that it made me a symbol. I think it's about time for the Boy-Who-Lived to return. The Daily Prophet fluttered to the floor as I vanished.

* * *

><p>I apparated to just outside the ministry entrance that we'd used three years ago. The payphone still stood, though it was now an unused entrance. The ministry deeply frowned on those who used it now. Stepping into it, I tapped out the code. 62442. When the voice asked for my name, I just smirked. I knew that the Ministry monitored those entering through the box, and I knew what would happen.<p>

"Harry Potter." I replied with a smirk. "Here to kick your boss' ass." I could hear alarms going off inside the Ministry. I smirked at the sight of the badge. Harry Potter, Ass Kicker.

When the box reached the bottom, I almost laughed as I saw Draco Malfoy standing nearby, wand out. I was looking forward to killing the little shit, and here he was, the perfect opportunity.

The box slowed to a stop. The instant that the doors opened, I used my sorcery. Sorcery. It's such a simple word, but so significant. A sorceror is a classification of wizard, one who can wield a magic that is unique, or one that crafted a magic that is close enough. Salazar Slytherin, for example, first became a sorceror through his creation of the Parseltongue enchantment. He took the secrets with him to his grave, but some combination of spells he cast on himself allowed him to give his bloodline the ability to speak with serpents.

I've never been sure what made Voldemort a sorceror, though I'm sure he was one several times over. Dumbledore's transfiguration alone would count, and I'm sure he also had a number of other sorceries.

My sorcery is a rather unique little trick, one that took me a full year of relative time to master. I apparated. However, instead of turning right, forcing myself somewhere else and having to fight the wards, I turned left. I turned counter-clockwise.

In scientific terms, Apparition is the magic-granted ability to alter one's own spatial position at will. Apparition wards were designed to prevent a wizard from moving to a location within the wards, while disapparition wards did the opposite, preventing them from leaving their current position. A strong enough wizard can overpower such wards, though it is highly draining.

However, I didn't plan on doing so. I had no need to. Instead, I altered my temporal position. I didn't move a millimeter. Instead, magic flowed out of me, freezing everything around me. The only thing exempt from this was myself, as well as anything I happened to be touching. This was the only form of my unique gift I could use that didn't completely exhaust me. It had a couple of other uses, including an effect similar to a time turner, though the device was vastly more effective. Within the bubble of energy surrounding me, everything was frozen.

I did a full 360 turn, granting myself 30 seconds. I drew my wand out, before beginning to chant.

"Reducto. Reducto. Reducto…" I repeated the incantation over and over as I examined my surroundings. Of course, nothing came out of my wand. Even most laws of nature were frozen. I couldn't move anything around me while time was frozen. Things that were falling would no longer do so. Thankfully, there were exceptions. My left hand pulled out my runed knife, glowing with power. Almost every enchantment on the thing had been done during the greatest extension of this power I had ever used. It had almost bled me dry to do so, but it allowed the thing to function perfectly outside of the normal timestream. Only the Fidelius enchantment, as well as the basic goblen enchantments, were performed outside of my power. As such, they did not function while time was frozen, at least I assumed the Fidelius didn't. Unfortunately for my enemies, due to the time warped enchantments, or maybe some weird Fidelius interaction, the knife itself did.

A small smile appeared on my face as the blade sliced cleanly through Draco Malfoy's forearm, then throat, before being returned to the altered wrist holster. There was no visible change, but I knew that the moment time was unfrozen the damage would take effect. For the remaining… I paused for a moment in order to check one of the enchantments I'd cast on his glasses, checking how much time I had left. I spent the remaining eight seconds analyzing the environment and planning my next move.

When the time was up, a stream of fifteen Reductor curses erupted from my wand, sending everyone around into chaos. To end the stream of spells, I pointed my wand at the statue in the center and discharged a specialized blaster Bolt. A beam of white energy, thicker than most spells, erupted from my wand destroying the new statue and sending stone flying throughout the Atrium, scattering everyone around. The simultaneous impact of two reductors, two confringos, and an omni-directional banisher, which taken a full week to make work, destroyed any semblance of order in the atrium.

With skills honed by years as a Seeker, I snatched Draco's wand from his falling hand, avoiding the spray of blood from his severed throat. My eyes narrowed as Voldemort came into view, followed by Nagini. Before my nemesis could get off a spell into the chaos of the Atrium, I once again turned counter clockwise.

Even with just two turns, blood began to drip from my nose. My body wasn't meant to act like this. Even with two subjective years of practice, I just wasn't used to it yet. I began incanting reductos, much faster than I'd done with my own. It was sloppy, but that didn't matter. Fifteen was my preferred safe point for my own wand, an admittedly superior tool for channeling magic. An average wand had exploded on sixteen when I'd tested it last. My own wand could throw out twenty before demonstrating any dangerous shivers. I threw thirty into Draco's wand, before shoving it up against Nagini's open mouth, a "Bombarda" escaping my lips. For good measure, I made sure to stab it between the eyes with my knife. When time unfroze, the bombardment hex from my own wand blasted the dying shit's wand into the snake's gut, right before it exploded with the force of a bomb.

With Voldemort still shocked by the death of one of his Horcruxes, I raised my wand to point straight at his chest. I released the second blaster Bolt, this one of the standard design. A shield-breaker, followed by alternating reductos and confringos. Riddle threw up a powerful Protego shield, but was shocked when the white light practically ignored the shield, breaking it within an instant of connecting. His reflexes had been bolstered by some of his rituals, however, so he was able to turn enough that it made contact with his upper left arm, rather than the center of his chest.

I smirked at the sight of his left arm falling to the ground, before my left foot twitched. It was precisely one sixth of a full turn, forming a five second time bubble. Enough for me to pull out four stones with markings, linked to one another by both a stasis and sticking charm. A tap of my wand removed the spells. I held the stones and wand above my head, as the magic would not take effect until time was stable again.

The instant that time unfroze, the stones rocketed away from one another. I hissed _"Activate!"_ I hissed in Parseltongue, enabling the wards. I normally used parseltongue triggers for my wards, with complicated passwords to deactivate them in the same language. It didn't matter that Riddle could speak it as well, since my wards didn't care who activated them. They were almost always set up to affect everyone but myself in the area. Using Parseltongue just meant that fewer people would be able to affect them. I did make sure that I knew what the normal pronunciation of my commands was, just in case something happened and I lost the ability to speak it. If I lost the ability when Riddle died, I didn't want to lose control of my wards as well.

The wardstones contained a rather unique ward of my own design. It was a forced Apparition ward. Screams could be heard throughout the Atrium as every single other individual ran into the wards. Only Riddle was able to resist it, even with the distractions around him and the loss of his arm. Not that it mattered. With so many other people smashing against them, it was a simple matter for me to capitalize on the damage to them and Apparate through, destroying them as I did so.

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><p>I reappeared far outside the city, actually within a few miles of where I had been abandoned by Ron and Hermione. I gave a sigh of relief as the pressure on my entire body dissipated. Unlike most wizards, who apparently felt like they were being squeezed through a straw when they Apparated, I just felt a strong pressure on my entire body, a much more pleasant sensation. It had been much worse at first, but never as bad as others made it sound.<p>

I didn't have any wardstones left, so I just cast a few basic wards and used the last of my strength to unpack the tent and cast a half-Fidelius on it. The charm was a much weaker variant, and would have no effect on those who already knew the secret, but would prevent me from being found. Then, I collapsed onto my bed and slept.

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><p>Three days had passed since my short assault on the Ministry. My core was fully restored and I'd replenished my supply of Bolts. It was time for me to continue with my plan. I knew where another Horcrux was, and I was going to take it out.<p>

It had, ironically, been a stroke of luck that had alerted me to the location. Before, I had planned to try and capture high-ranking Death Eaters and see if they knew anything. But with the death of Nagini, Riddle had been thinking about his Horcruxes, and I'd been lucky enough to catch the locations of the last two. One of them was hidden in Hogwarts. I'd actually touched it at one point! The other was in Gringotts.

I waved my wand, causing the tent to pack itself into the bag. I was still using Hermione's bag for the tent and most of the books, but I used the mokeskin pouch I kept around my neck for anything truly important. Any book that I doubted would be found at Flourish and Blotts was inside, as well as anything I had sentimental attachment to. Needless to say, I'd cast a space enhancement charm on the bag. Another enchantment bound it to my neck, preventing anyone else from removing it. It would never cause me stress, thankfully minimizing even the slightest possibility of injury from wearing it around my neck.

The half-Fidelius was already on the verge of breaking. It wasn't exactly surprising, since I'd cast it on the brink of exhaustion, but it did kind of force my timeline ahead. Without any wardstones, I wouldn't be able to set up any more permanent camps, so I supposed that there was no time like the present.

I apparated away. A moment later, I reappeared inside of a dingy shop in Knockturn Alley. The place was mostly empty. I'd already taken pretty much everything of value from the shop. It was where I'd acquired enough wardstones to last me a year. The place had specialized in warding, so I'd been able to get a hold a lot of the supplies I'd needed to learn here as well.

The owner hadn't been a Death Eater, but he'd been as bad as one. He'd kept a few muggles under the Imperius curse in the apartment above the shop. I'd sent them to St. Mungos with a Portkey, along with a note listing them as victims of a Death Eater. It had been close enough to the truth.

When I'd needed some practice on live enemies, he'd been my target. For example, the man had been an adept Occlumens, enough so that his Occlumency was automatic. I'd practiced breaking through shields, learning Legilmency the hard way. I couldn't say that I was proud of what I'd done, but the man had been a monster.

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><p>Using my Invisibility Cloak, I snuck into Gringotts. I'd learned of the differences between my cloak and others. Considering it had been ancient when my father had gotten it, it should be useless. Even the best cloaks have a maximum lifespan of about twenty years. Mine was different, obviously. I was tempted to believe that it was the 'Cloak of Invisibility' from the Deathly Hallows story, but it didn't matter, even if it was. It's not like it changed anything.<p>

Regardless, I was able to sneak past the guards. I made my way to a bank manager, being careful to avoid touching anyone. I placed my wand just apart from the manager, waiting. The moment that he finished with his current customer, I released the spell, making sure to conceal the white flash.

My Imperio Bolt connected with the goblin and completely bypassed any of its mental defenses. An Imperio Bolt was comprised of a six second blanket memory wipe, three compulsions, and an Imperius Curse. The memory wipe would slam against their mental shields, assuming they had any, the three compulsions were just one word "Obey", not to truly control, but as yet another mental attack. The Imperius would catch them completely undefended, regardless of the state of their mental defenses. The curse would be buried so deeply into their minds that it was a dozen times as effective as just the normal curse would have been.

Bolting was my second Sorcery, though it wasn't quite as unique as my temporal apparition. I wasn't sure if it was completely unique, though it did require a certain awareness that no one else seemed to have. I'd devised the technique in order to assist me in taking out enemies. If I was going to be fighting solo, I couldn't waste time dueling. If I didn't want to resort to killing curses, I had to figure out something else to take them out and get around their shields.

A 'Bolt' was essentially a packet of pure magic, which could contain up to seven spells within it. Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple. Spells didn't just go together like that. It took the ability to piece them together, much like a puzzle. For example, in the beginning, I'd use a Bolt consisting of prank and annoyance spells. One consisting of leg locker, jelly legs, tantallegra, and rictusempra was pretty simple. The four spells combined acted a lot like a super-powered stunner, requiring not a ennervate, but a full finite incantatem first, something much more draining and less likely to be used, considering that a finite wouldn't work on a stunned person. The whole technique was rather interesting. It was only the first three spells that were needed to attain the stunning effect. All three affected the legs and would provide an overload effect that would take an enemy out of the fight. However, a Bolt consisting of just those three would fall apart. The tickling hex was a low power spell that was easy to add and balanced them out.

Another useful thing about the Bolts? They bypassed shields. A shield had to be able to block every spell inside of the Bolt to stop it, not to mention the magic that was used to contain the spells. My first Bolt wasn't that hard to block, but my more recent Bolts were a lot more complicated.

The blaster Bolt was my most commonly used one. I usually prepared three or four of them whenever I left my camp. The shieldbreaker was the first spell. Normally, it just acted as a banisher. However, when it touched anything made of magic, such as a shield, it would attempt to destroy it. The version I used could destroy almost all known shields. When it was put into a Bolt, it practically guaranteed that it would get through any shield. Unfortunately, it didn't fit with most forms of magic. Only blasting spells fit with it, though I was able to squeeze in a cutter at the end, assuming I wanted to expend twice the amount of magic. So, I tended to use a five spell blaster as my most common Bolt. A shieldbreaker, followed by alternating Confringos and Reductors.

The Imperio Bolt was the hardest one to make work. The Imperius Curse was not a jet of light, so it was a hell of a lot of work to make it function properly. It had taken me almost half a month of work to design this one.

Memory charms were also incredibly annoying. Not only were they almost as bad, formwise, as the Imperius, they were also pretty amorphous, having different shapes for different forms. Precisely six seconds could be matched up with three two-syllable compulsions, but I'd only found a few other combinations that worked. The next working combo was a nine second wipe with a single nineteen-syllable compulsion.

Of course, other combinations existed, but finding any that worked with the Imperius and also could be used was a lot of work. I'd decided that the six second wipe would work best for my standard Imperio Bolt. Such simple compulsions would be too broad to actually do very much, but they didn't need to be. They were just another way to weaken my target's mental defenses.

Of course, preparing a Bolt took time. About half again as much as it would have taken to actually cast the spells. My wand could only store so many. Thankfully, I could partially store them inside of my own magical core as well. Fifteen stored Bolts would limit me to an absolute maximum of fifteen spells. What's more, I had to expend the energy twice per Bolt, once to store it, and once to use it.

For this mission, I had six blaster Bolts, four Castle-Breakers, and a pair of Elemental Bolts. For the first time, I'd even stored a safety net of three Imperio Bolts. The Castle Breakers were something I cooked up just in case I had to break out a reinforced area. They were the first seven spell Bolts I'd come up with. I still couldn't remember how I'd figured out the way to make it work, as I'd been drunk at the time, but I was pretty confident that three of them would rip through one of Hogwarts' walls. They wouldn't be particularly effective on a living person, at least, not in comparison to the amount of damage I could inflict normally, but it would be enough. It had been something of an eighteenth birthday present to myself.

The Elemental Bolts were pretty cool, but they'd hurt like hell. Seven completely different spells, each of them elemental. I'd only managed to figure out how to make two. I'd made the fire Bolt after I'd figured out the blasting Bolt, and I knew for a fact that it burned at least three times as hot as a mature dragon's breath. The second one had been the final Bolt I'd completed, and it had been the hardest after the Imperio. It was a lightning Bolt that took three times as long as any other to prepare. I'd had it in my wand since the first time I'd made it work. I'd thought about using it on Riddle in the Ministry, but didn't dare, especially with all of the civilians there. The lightning Bolt was the first one I'd discovered that could branch off, striking those nearby as well as the one hit.

* * *

><p>After hitting the goblin with the Bolt, it was a simple matter to force it to lead me to a private room. I made sure that there were no monitoring spells on the room, before sealing the door and removing my cloak. I grilled the goblin on security procedures, making sure that nothing had changed. Then, I gave it further instructions.<p>

My plan was fairly simple, but I had to be careful. Its not like this was the first time I'd broken into Gringotts. The first time had been when I'd needed a goblin-forged knife. After all, I needed a way to destroy Horcruxes, before I learned that I could do so with focused apparition, anyway. Unfortunately, weapons of that caliber weren't used much around Gringotts. I think that I'd probably still been drunk at the time, but I'd made the decision to steal the knife belonging to the bank manager. It had been passed down from the time of the goblin kings, and I'd managed to steal it. It was now strapped to my wrist, part of a modified wrist holster to hold both my wand and my knife. It had been the most harrowing test of my skills that I could have imagined, but I'd had a lot more confidence afterwards.

Of course, I'd also taken the time to steal some security plans. I knew what defenses guarded the Gringotts mineshafts. There was a reason that I had three Castle-Breakers loaded up. Even if I didn't get the chance to use them for one of two purposes I had planned, they'd do some pretty nasty things to the security dragons.

* * *

><p>The goblin walked to a cart, giving a curt nod to another goblin who glanced at him as he picked up a set of the clankers, noisemakers used to control their security dragons. I followed close behind him, my invisibility cloak shielding me from sight. I'd taken care to silence my shoes, I had charmed my clothing to be scentless, and I'd even drunk a foul tasting potion that would halve my weight for three hours, as well as mute any bodily odors.<p>

Thankfully, no one gave notice to a goblin using the carts. Had he had a human with him, the goblins would have paid much more attention, but goblins had various reasons for doing things, and there was no reason to question a goblin as to why it was using the mine cart. After all, goblins had natural occlumency and would never help humans.

I made sure to carefully observe the goblins until we were out of sight. It wouldn't do for one to follow us. At a seemingly random point, the goblin stopped the cart. I levitated a large vat from a hidden nook above us, storing the shimmering liquid inside of the cart.

What idiots these goblins were. The fluid they called the 'Thief's Downfall' was a bit of goblin magic. It was designed to break all magic and enchantments. They used it to catch thieves. Well, it was actually supposed to kill potential thieves, as the carts they were on would derail and fall from the tracks, the enchantments keeping them in place vanishing with them. However, I could see so many uses for the stuff. Unfortunately, the chemicals had a lifespan of only a day or two, but for my purposes, it was perfect.

We reached the Lestrange Vault with no difficulty. I ordered the goblin to open the door, but cursed when a horrible scream began to sound. I even recognized what the spell was. It was a caterwauling charm, designed to go off if anyone under an enchantment tried to open the door. Thankfully, it wasn't a Gringotts enchantment, meaning that goblins would come down to investigate, not to arrest me. Luckily, the anti-enchantment defenses weren't strong enough to bypass my Imperio Bolt, so I had a bit of time.

I splashed a bit of the Thief's Downfall onto the vault door, causing it to evaporate. With a smirk, I emptied the entire vat, the fluid pouring over everything in the vault. I made sure to grab Hufflepuff's cup, before taking as much of the gold as I could. After all, why leave resources in the hands of my enemies. My goblin shouted out a warning as two more arrived on another cart. With a flick of my wand, two more Imperio Bolts flew from the tip, striking each of the goblins.

"Prepare for an attack." I ordered my three enslaved goblins as I emptied as much of the gold as I could into the beaded bag. The cup was safely stored in the bag around my neck. "Take weapons and armor from the vault here. Kill any goblins that would resist me leaving." I ran from the vault to the nearby dragon.

This was part two, the escape portion, of my plan.

A burst of energy slammed into the restraints holding the dragon to the ground. The nearly blind dragon roared as, for the first time in many, many, years, it was free. After climbing onto its back, I turned around and glanced back at the commotion. My brainwashed goblins were making good use of some of the weapons that had been kept in the Lestrange Vault. Two more goblins had arrived and been cut down, but one of them had apparently alerted more of them, as the three imperioed goblins were now down to two, and were fighting against fifteen more security goblins.

I glanced back and saw that the dozen remaining goblins were about to throw something at the dragon. From the nasty look of the spear, I had no intention of allowing them to launch it. I took careful aim, then fired four of my blaster Bolts into them. The result was four craters where the goblins used to be. I fired a fifth Bolt into the tracks, preventing any more goblins from arriving.

I turned back to see that the dragon was struggling with the ceiling. I raised my wand again, then discharged a Castle-Breaker. A hole was torn in the rock, one much deeper than what the dragon had done, then it exploded outwards, widening exponentially. One more Bolt drove into the ceiling, multiplying the damage. When the third Bolt made contact, the ceiling was ripped open, and we soared to freedom.

* * *

><p>Once again, I thanked my skill with Apparition. If I had been less skilled, I might have taken the dragon with me when I apparated away. Thankfully, I'd taken the time to steal a few more sets of wardstones while in Knockturn Alley, so I could set up a Fidelius. I was exhausted, both physically and magically, having drained about a quarter of my core with just the Castle-Breakers. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time, so I wanted to get some rest.<p>

Riddle would be aware that someone had broken into Gringotts, and would guess what I was after. It would take him a bit of time to find out that all of his Horcruxes were destroyed, save one. He might be in control of Hogwarts, but I was pretty sure it would be the last one he checked. I had enough time to prepare one last loadout of Bolts, get a good nights sleep, then head to Hogwarts. Tomorrow, I'd end everything.

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><p>My apparition took me to a spot just outside the Hogwarts wards, on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. From there, I headed straight towards the castle. Not the normal way, to the front of the castle, but towards the actual castle walls. If my guess was correct, then I might be able to find a hidden entrance.<p>

Thankfully, I knew a rather useful spell for taking care of acromantulas. An amplified version of a spell used to eliminate normal sized household pests was more than enough. My search took me close to the acromantula den, before I managed to strike gold. Or, rather, stone.

A pair of stone snakes were wrapped around one another in a spiral, forming a door. With a simple hissed "Open" in Parseltongue, they were separating. I made my way into the castle, casting a bubble-head charm to deal with the smell.

A vision flashed through my head. Riddle was checking the Gaunt House, and let out a scream of rage at seeing the door ajar. I shook my head to clear it of the vision, before continuing forward.

The basilisk had needed a way to hunt for food, since it couldn't last almost a year without nourishment. I was sure that there had been an outside entrance to the Chamber, but I'd had no idea where. Luckily, my first guess had paid off.

I ignored the corpse of the basilisk, though I did wonder if it might be worth something. It didn't matter, since I was public enemy number one, and all, but it would be nice to know.

Using my invisibility cloak, I made my way into the castle. My first stop was the Room of Requirement. To my surprise, there was a ward line set up around the room. All it took was a counter-clockwise turn, and I was able to sneak into the Room of Hidden Things.

I made my way to where I'd hidden my old Potions book, ignoring everything else. It seemed that no one had changed the room much, not that I'd expected anyone to have done so.

I took the horcrux and, with a single strike of my knife, sliced it in half. I repeated the process with the cup, and a small smile appeared on my face. The bastard was mortal now.

Another vision, this time of Voldemort at a lake. The locket was gone. I could feel his anger.

It was time to draw the bastard out of hiding. And what better way than to avenge the old man. I might have disagreed with him on a lot of things, but Albus Dumbledore had been a good man, and I was going to kill the man who had betrayed him.

I made my way to the Headmaster's office and unleashed a volley of reductos at the gargoyle. As I'd guessed, the thing was magically protected, but it wasn't long before the Headmaster, Snape, came down.

"What in Merlin's name do you think you're-!" He froze. "Potter?"

"Ah, Snivellus." I smiled softly before I made a sixth of a counter-clockwise turn. Four reductos slammed into Snape's elbows and knees, knocking him to the ground. "I've come back, Snivellus, to end it all. Starting with you." I raised my wand, pointing it straight at his chest. "Any last words?"

"Potter, please!" He gasped, in a horrendous amount of pain. "You can't!"

"Goodbye, Snivellus. And good riddance." A fire Bolt erupted from the tip of my wand, striking the greasy haired man. His entire body was bathed in flame. It was so graphic that I was almost forced to turn away, but I couldn't. I knew that I wouldn't use the Bolt for such a thing ever again. I might use it, even on a person, but not like this. Not on a helpless victim.

I left the small smattering of ashes on the ground as I made my way through the halls. Riddle was on his way. He was coming to take his Horcrux before I could get into Hogwarts. Unfortunately for him, he'd severely underestimated me.

Under my Cloak, I exited the castle, then waited. Riddle was coming. I was ready. When a pair of Death Eaters… The Carrows, I believe they were called, stepped out of the castle to greet their master, they both died to Reductors to the head. In the same moment, the doors to the castle had been sealed shut. I'd even made sure to seal the windows shut. No one was going to interfere.

"Hello, Tom." I said with a nod and a slight smirk. I wondered if he realized that he was now mortal? "How are you this fine day?"

"Potter!" He growled. His arm had completely regenerated, and he had a look of fury on his face. "Avada Kedavra!"

My smirk vanished as I was forced to put all of my concentration into the duel. Beams of light erupted from our wands. The ground rose up to attack me, and I countered with a hail of spells that obliterated his attempt at an earthen construct and destroyed quite a bit of the ground around us. I lunged towards him, planning to get in close to prevent him from using any more spells like that, only to find a strange aura of darkness surrounding him. I narrowly managed to dodge the aura and one of his curses, the darkness acting independently from him.

At one point, he fired a rather nasty curse at me, a writhing jet of black light, and I countered with a massively overpowered jet of golden fire. Our two spells met and for a moment we were in a stalemate.

"Oh dear, Harry." He smirked for the first time and I mentally flinched. This wouldn't be good.

"Didn't you know about Dumbledore's wand? It's a legend you know. I just had to have it. After all, only the best wand is a fit for the greatest sorcerer in the world!" His spell consumed mine and raced towards me. I only barely managed to avoid the blast.

It looks like my guess was right. Dumbledore did have the Wand. Damnit! I'd managed to solve the bastard's Snitch riddle almost two months ago, though I hadn't dared use the stone.

Riddle, seemingly bolstered by his success at overpowering my wand, increased the sheer number of his spells, including the nastiness.

I narrowly managed to dodge beam of black smoke, which slammed into the doors to the castle. The door that was struck dissolved into black smoke identical to the spell and I cursed. I had to end this, before anyone could get out here.

With a swift spell, I knocked the discarded Cloak into the air, even as I narrowly dodged another of his spells. Hidden from even his sight, I turned counter-clockwise.

Stopping time was useless, of course. My usual tactic of catching my opponent off guard with a volley of spells wouldn't work this time. The dark rituals he had performed made him incredibly fast, and I couldn't get close enough to strike.

To Tom, it seemed like I had maybe tried a disillusionment charm, since I reappeared to his sight when he tried a wide area finite. I struck with everything I had, ignoring the tears of blood leaking from my eyes, and the blood gushing from my nose. This was it.

I discharged four blaster Bolts, doing my best to catch him off guard. After the first burst right through his shield, he took care to dodge them, moving away from each impact and the craters left in the ground. Two lightning elemental Bolts slashed through the air to either side of him, and a final Castle-Breaker slammed into the ground in front of him. The resultant explosion sent him flying back. Suddenly, he stopped moving, a silver glint visible in his chest.

"Goodbye, Tom." I hissed as the Cloak slid off of me, my left hand holding the knife embedded in his back, while my right was pressing the tip of my wand to the back of his neck. One after another, seven Bolts of the highest caliber I could produce blasted through him. The very first destroyed his neck completely, and by the time the seventh left my wand, Voldemort's body was completely gone. Only the Elder Wand was left, lying innocently on the ground.

The last thing Tom Riddle saw was his most hated foe fade, right before his eyes. My temporal magic had allowed me to step back a few minutes in time. It was nowhere near as potent as a time turner, but it had been enough. Under the cloak, I'd been able to position myself in order to strike at his back.

For a moment I just stood there, not quite believing my eyes. Was it really over? Then, I reached down and wrapped my fingers around the handle of the Elder Wand. A bolt of lightning raced through my veins. I felt the Cloak lift itself off the ground and wrap around me, even as the Stone emerged from the bag around my neck and drove itself into my chest, right above my heart. The moment that all three Hallows made contact with me, I let out a scream as they vanished. In my pupils, the sigil of the Deathly Hallows, a triangle, circumscribing a circle, which contained a single line, appeared.

Somewhere, deep inside myself, I felt a deep sense of satisfaction unlike anything I'd ever felt before. I was the Master of Death now, but even that paled in comparison to the fact that I was finally free. The prophecy was over. I had won. I stood there, ignoring the cries of the school behind me. I was free.

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><p><strong>Well, I hope everyone liked it. Please, let me know what you think.<strong>

**Remember that everything takes place a year later than canon. People have gotten adjusted to the new rule, and have stopped resisting as much. **

**Originally, I had planned to end this story with Harry getting hit by a Killing Curse, finding out he was the Master of Death, then getting insanely OP and slaughtering a ton of Death Eaters and Voldemort with his new power. I decided that this would work better. Harry was outmatched, but managed to figure out a plan, and use his own Hallow to defeat Voldemort's. I decided that the basilisk bite in the Chamber of Secrets killed Harry's horcrux, and the connection between them was just leftover. He gets to keep his Parseltongue.**

**If I get enough of a positive response to this story, it will be a prequel to another story. The first idea that comes to mind is one where Harry travels to a world where Voldemort decided he needs more useful followers and tricks them all into performing Horcrux rituals. Just becoming a Death Eater gets you immortality. I think that sounds like a world that would need a Harry that's powerful.**

**Anyway, let me know what you think. If I get a really good response, I'll get started on the sequel sooner. **


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